![]() Pete told the story of searching for the right sound for the animated dancing penguins in Jolly Holiday. Even if it had a rubber point, you’d be all over the place. And all of a sudden we get out and we’re on a cobble stone street and there’s supposed to be four of us tumbling right next to each other and, you put the broom down. ![]() The first day that we shot, the first thing that we shot was the very last thing that you see us all dancing down the street at the end and that was hard because although we had worked for almost a month and a half with the brooms and everything we’d been working on a plywood floor. And I don’t have a big chin but I used to have nightmares that I had tucked and I would clip my chin, my teeth, my nose, you know, I mean I used to literally wake up sweating about it. The bad part was the chimney opening wasn’t that big. Pete went on to say, “It was like eight feet…which is a long. He continued, “And the section jumping into the chimney puffs was done with a technical person underneath each of our chimneys and the chimney was solid with a cutout and you would do the section and jump split and do the section again and jump split and the third time you jump split and then you tuck in and pull your knees up and the guy would trip the chimney and you’d fall into it and you’d fall and hit a mattress on the floor and front roll… I used to have nightmares about it.” It means that you’re throwing yourself over and catching yourself on your hands three times with a 15 foot drop below you and it’s grim. “Three guys really did do flip flops between two buildings and it’s painted in perspective but it still is (real). ![]() These were dancers, not stunt men, and yet… The stunts that those men tried while they were building their routines for the movie sounded scary. It was interesting to hear Pete Menefee talk about those days of dancing for Mary Poppins. We had to wear the name tags but we were allowed to rehearse in swim trunks because it was blazing (hot) back there.” Walt was there every day, every single day. It was very springy so no one’s legs would get messed up like you do dancing on the concrete or hard surfaces. “They built a set on the back lot for us that was special for (the rehearsals). “The movie was rehearsed here in June and July of ’63 and I don’t know how many of you live in the valley but it’s warm here,” Pete said about his time preparing for Mary Poppins. You know, it’s been, it’s been really incredible.” And I’ve just been privileged to work all over the world with all different people. “So my career has been really varied as far as design goes. I opened Walt Disney World for Walt.” What an exciting transition! Throughout his 44 year designing career, he designed costumes for the Moscow Circus, the cabaret show Jubilee in Las Vegas, Circus of the Stars, Miss Universe, many rock and roll acts like KISS, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, etc, and recently the How to Train Your Dragon show and, as Pete puts it, “every ice show in the world.” Just 10 years after shooting Mary Poppins, Pete says, “In ’73, ten years later, I was dressing Julie for the opening special at Walt Disney World in Florida. Luckily, his talent for drawing took him very far. ![]() He’d been making money for so many years as a professional dancer, buying his first car at 14 and putting himself through college with the money he earned from his dancing jobs, and he was nervous to give that up. He had been drawing from a very early age (even before he was in school), but it had never occurred to him that he could make a career out of drawing. he knew he wouldn’t be jumping down chimneys at 37, so he decided to look for something else he was good at to carry him through the remainder of his working years. Just a few years later, at 21 years old, Pete Menefee was cast as one of the chimney sweeps in Mary Poppins…and his insight into the filming of the movie and all that went into it was nothing short of fascinating.īy the time Pete was in his mid 20s, he was acting as assistant choreographer and it occurred to him that dancing was a young person’s career. Pete Menefee was 14 years old when he started dancing professionally, 17 when he danced in West Side Story, and 18 when he played Harvey Johnson in the film Bye Bye Birdie. Mary Poppins 50th Anniversary edition comes to Blu-Ray and DVD on December 10, 2013. I was invited by Disney on an expense-paid trip to LA last month for the premiere of FROZEN as well as other exciting experiences, like this Pete Menefee interview. ![]()
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